Over 20 billion dollars are spent annually in the United States on medical services provided to patients who present with no evidence of organic disease. many of these patients meet DSM-III-E criteria for hypochondriasis. Despite the massive diversion of resources to the hypochondriacal patient, relatively little research has addressed the assessment and effective management of the hypochondriacal patient. One prominent model suggests that hypochondriacs experience normal bodily sensations more intensely (sensations are "amplified") than nonhypochondriacal individuals, and/or, the hypochondriac misinterprets normal bodily sensations. There have been few empirical investigations of this hypothesis, yet a number of treatment strategies assume the veracity of this model. The purpose of the proposed study is to assess for these putative amplification and misinterpretive processes in DSM-III-R diagnosed hypochondriacs and normal controls. Several unique features of the proposed study suggest that these data will provide an important contribution to the literature by 1) assessing physician referred hypochondriacal patients, 2) assessing psychophysiological reactivity to stress in these patients, and 3) assessing several dimensions of the pain experience in hypochondriacs. Assessment studies, such as the one proposed here, are urgently needed to hasten the development of effective treatment strategies for the hypochondriacal patient.